Excerpts
Bias against women is as entrenched as it was a decade ago and gender equality progress has gone into reverse, according to a UN report.
Nine out of 10 people of all genders have a bias against women, found the Gender Social Norms Index, a figure unchanged from data collected more than a decade ago.
Published by the UN development programme on Monday, it found that half of people in 80 countries believe men make better political leaders, 40% believe men are better business executives and a quarter believe it is justified for men to beat their wives.
These figures, from data collected between 2017 and 2022, were largely unchanged from the previous GSNI report, published in 2020, which used data from 2005 to 2014.
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The biases result in barriers for women in politics, business and work, as well as the stripping away of their rights and human rights violations, said the researchers. Despite women being more educated and skilled than ever before, there was a 39% salary gap with men, they added.
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“These views persist because of social and cultural norms that devalue women and reinforce men’s power, control and feelings of entitlement, as well as promoting beliefs that trivialise and normalise violence against women and even blame victims for their own abuse,” said Andrea Simon, director of the End Violence Against Women Coalition. “It is these attitudes that can drive violent acts and behaviours and we can only truly prevent this violence by shifting these attitudes.”